The Dark Tower on Baja

The Dark Tower is a historic guild on Baja with a history spanning back to early 1999, and often interacts with other player-groups, playing the role of villain and antagonist in various quests and storylines.

Over
the years, the Dark Tower has been located in a variety of places
including Felucca, near Trinsic Trammel, and most currently by the Chaos
Shrine Trammel.

"You stand now before the threshold of The Dark Tower. More than an organization, the Dark Tower has taken on a life of its own. Those serving it no longer join together in structure and rank to serve simply a purpose, but to serve an entity - some sentient, malevolent force that has manifested and become The Dark Tower. Before you continue on to explore the workings of this guild, you should take a moment to understand what the Dark Tower is.

I will start by stating something that should be obvious: we are a role playing guild. That is, every one of us has one or more characters that we play while online. The Dark Tower is a group of friends and players that enjoy a certain play style. That is - one of an evil bent. That does NOT mean we murder people. Nor does it mean we do anything that could be misconstrued as griefing. All such acts are frowned upon. What it does mean is we play morally and ethically ambiguous characters. We are not here to ruin the fun of any other player. Nor are we here to make someone else's playing experience unenjoyable.

Villains mustn't always be murdering madmen. There are many villainous roles to be filled: mercenaries, rogues, necromancers, priests of dark deities, scholars. A deviant pattern of thought and logic is oftentimes all it takes to be deemed evil!"

Xander, the First Master of the Dark Tower

Their forum site, at The Dark Tower, also promotes the atmosphere of this "evil group", with text and visuals that lend splendidly toward building a forbidding and entertaining presence.

The Complete Dark Tower Tour

Just beyond the lichen coated gates of the Dark Tower is the haunted Great Hall. In the Dark Tower's Great Hall, where visitors are received and sometimes detained. Bloodied corroded manacles hang on the wall beside the iron maiden and deep pile of skulls, a macabre testament to the fate of intruders and would be thieves.

Be warned, do not approach our door unprepared...To those who would serve the Dark Tower. I warn you, it is not for the meek of heart. You must put from you any adherence to the cursed Virtues of Britannia. You must cast off any ties you have to friends and family. You must be prepared to bind your very soul to the Pentagram, which is the foundation of our beliefs.

Before you tread upon our steps to undergo the Rite of Initiation, read well this tale of the Initiate Warin. When he lost his lady love to a rival, he took himself to the Dark Tower requesting membership. It was granted and he soon applied for admission to the Path of Darkness. Vowing that he was ready to fully commit himself to the Fifth Path, the Dark Ones decided that he was to prove his devotion through a Sacrifice. He was brought to the Ritual Circle, where a masked woman was bound, screaming for her life. The Initiate Warin was instructed to remove her heart, which he did, then to remove her mask. She was revealed to be his lady love. Grieved by her death at his hands, the Ritual Circle rejected him, incinerating them both with its unholy flame.

The Shrine of Memory

The Shrine of Memory is a quiet place of reflection on the Dark Tower's infamous past. Here one will find the Golden Pitchfork of E.R., a mysterious patron who the Dark Tower once served. A shattered crystal wisp fragment and piece of blackrock rest beside the idol of a necromantic goddess stolen in ancient times that is capable of sealing wounds and granting undeath.

In the armory, the Dark Tower has an Orc Captain Helm, taken by force from the great Orcish Warbozz who attacked Britain from deep within the sewers during the brief reign of Lord Casca. These artifacts of the Dark Tower's history are few compared to the role in the history of the world that the Dark Tower influenced, some of the most notable events include seizing blackrock from the Follower's of Armageddon, Fall of Trinsic to Jou'nar, Wars of conquest in Avalon, Dawn, Yew, Heaven's Forge, Serpent's Hold and Britain, the Quest for the Spear of Hatred, The Necklace of Holding, Black Masses, Kidnappings, murders and much more: see The History of the Dark Tower for a complete list.

The Dark Tower is a member of the Baja Roleplaying and Event Alliance and participates in ongoing role-play scenarios, storylines, events, peerless hunts, champion spawns and role-play pvp. In addition to player run events, the Dark Tower is actively involved in EM or event moderator events. One example is the Redcap Gang, which the Dark Tower created to bring bloodshed and chaos to the streets of Britain and to thwart the Royal Guards.

The Library

The Library of the Dark Tower is a destination for scholars from all over the world.

Boasting nearly seventy volumes, it is one of the greatest libraries in the entire shard and more complete in the areas of Magick and Necromancy than any other. The tomes have been painstakingly maintained by the Dark Tower's Lore Keepers through untold ages.

An excerpt from one of the oldest histories, penned by Scribe Greggor, 693-618 reads "Perhaps the oddest note in the entire history of the Dark Tower ... its mysterious disappearance. It quite literally ... vanished one night. Inhabitants of the nearby towns report a blackness ... hung over the area as well ... constant sound of thunder. Then quite suddenly no one could see, hear, touch or smell anything. When their senses returned, they looked to see ... and the Dark Tower gone. In its place a barren patch of land. Why did the Dark Tower vanish? Was it the ... heavens punishing them for their atrocities? Was it some ritual gone horribly wrong? Or some spell whose ends we cannot comprehend. The only clue comes from ... stone, which appeared in that desolate piece of land ... days later. It read: When One Hand sunders. The Dark will slumber. When Eight stones stand high. The Dark will rise."

The Pit of Reanimation and the Death Path Laboratory

Inhale slowly, when you first enter this room, the fumes are noxious and foul. Here the Death Path carries out it's gruesome experiments in reanimation, vivisection and torture.

Bodies are often laid out to be flayed by the apprentices for parts. Jars kept on enchanted ice keep specimens fresh until they are needed. The High Altar, looms above the Shrine of Chaos, rippling with it's energies and the sentience of the Dark Tower both. Here great rituals of sacrifice to appease the Old Gods are held and rites of bloodletting and vicious blood sport. This is also the site of the Original Dark Tower Guildstone.

Scythe Village and the Highwayman Tavern

A short walk north of the Dark Tower, along the mountainside will take you to the Highwayman Tavern in Scythe Village. The Highwayman Tavern is the Safe House of the Redcap Gang, a criminal organization protected by the Dark Tower that terrorizes the streets of Britain and opposes Captain Aino's Town Guards. Here criminals gather from all over the realm, to get an ale, exchange information and gamble.